warner theater april 2 2004
Peter Stone Brown
one-time movie palace with a strong, to the point and totally surprising
"God Knows" which probably was the last thing anyone expected as an opener.
But then with Dylan, trying to guess or predict what he will do has pretty
much always been an exercise in futility. Following an arrangement not all
that dissimilar from the original studio version, the song took off under
its own steam, but was hardly the swing insisted upon by a noted music
critic on the tour's previous stop. As with most Dylan concerts I've seen
over the past couple of years, his voice was far stronger than I expected it
to be, his singing clear, and this version quite concise with no extraneous
jamming or soloing. Just as surprising for the second spot was "Forever
Young" starting off with Freddy following the song's melody for an opening
solo. Bob brought out the harp for the first of many excellent solos.
For some reason where I was sitting allowed me to notice the position of Bob
's microphone, which seemed to be positioned lower that I remembered from
the shows last summer (but maybe not) forcing Dylan to bend down and kind of
turn looking at the audience every time he sang. Since the mic was
positioned for someone who would be sitting at the keys instead of standing
it was kind of strange.
The show got quite a bit funkier with song number 3, "Lonesome Day Blues"
with great slide work from Larry Campbell, but the song never took on the
intensity of either the studio version or the live versions from 2001 where
the power of Dylan's vocal was nothing less than scary.
"Trying to Get To Heaven" following the song's original arrangement (as
opposed to the jazzy rearrangement) was a splendid surprise and easily one
of the evening's high points, again beginning with a full instrumental for
one verse before Bob started singing. Again the harp came out for a
beautiful solo.
Larry Campbell then kicked off the familiar intro to "Tangled" which was
somewhat abbreviated in terms of the number of verses, but for the first
time of the night I found myself wondering just what Freddie Koella was
playing on the Gibson hollow-body electric he used for that song. His solos
didn't seem to go anywhere and clashed with what the rest of the band was
playing more than anything else. This was followed by a basically ho-hum
"Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum."
The lights went down and the intro to another of the evening's highlights
"Blind Willie McTell" began, with Larry on cittern. The last time I saw
this song was last May in Atlantic City where it was ruined by a drunk who
was falling into everyone around him, so this was my chance to see Dylan do
it on piano. The lights slowly came up to reveal a a real drummer on-stage,
in fact, one of the greatest drummers in all of rock and roll for the last
three decades, the magnificent Richie Hayward. Keeping his eyes on Dylan at
all time, looking around at the rest of the band every so often like a
driver using his rear and sideview mirrors, Hayward doesn't beat the drums,
he plays them, constantly creating interesting multi-rhythms that make you
notice the drums for all the right reasons. The other great part of the
song was Larry's mandolin-like solos on the cittern.
"Highway 61 Revisited" followed with Hayward restoring the song to its
original beat, much the way David Kemper did, though what Hayward was
playing was a bit more complicated. Both Freddie and Larry took some wild
solos on this one with Larry's standing out.
A moving "I Shall Be Released" with Bob on harp came next and again Hayward
showed his virtuosity with a multi-rhythmic pattern that gently propelled
the song but never got in the way of Dylan's vocal or the guitar solos.
The difference between the two drummers was clear when Recile returned for
the Shot of Love arrangement of "High Water" bashing out the beat on two
snare drums making the drums louder than the entire band combined.
Larry then played the Stax-Volt arpeggio intro to "Just Like A Woman" which
kicks into pretty much of a regular "Just Like A Woman" by the time the song
reaches the bridge. The song featured a superb harp solo.
"Honest With Me" was a standard, nothing-special version, that was followed
by another ballad, "I Believe In You" that was okay, but mainly served to
showcase how shot Dylan's voice at this point is. The emotion was there,
but the voice was not conveying it.
On "Summer Days" about a quarter of the audience crowded the theater's two
center aisles. It was fun, but "Summer Days" simply hasn't reached the
supersonic heights it once did since Charlie Sexton has left the band.
When the band took their places for the encore, they did a very strange
thing: they played the outro to "Cats In The Well," and immediately went
into "Like A Rolling Stone." The arrangement has changed slightly with the
guitars stopping and starting throughout on the verses leaving Recile to
fill in the rest. It doesn't work. This is a song that is built on a
surging chord structure and especially with no organ (or Bucky Baxter steel)
to fill out the sound it is dependent on the guitars not the drums for its
power. Despite the instrumental weirdness on the second verse, Dylan
started singing the song as if he suddenly remembered what he wrote it
about. "All Along The Watchtower" served as a vehicle for the guitarists
with one piercing, kind of strange, but at the same time amazing solo from
Koella followed by one that went nowhere, and then a truly spectacular
perfect solo from Larry Campbell.
As with most of the Dylan shows I've seen over the past two years, this one
started out exciting with impressive performances from both Dylan and his
band but somehow lost both steam and focus midway through never really
regaining the momentum and intensity the songs deserve. In a crazy way, it
was as wildly inconsistent as Freddy Koella's guitar playing where he can
totally blow your mind one moment and then on the next solo seems to take it
nowhere at all. At the same time, the show was always highly professional
and well executed. But the mystic moments - and no performer can take you
into the mystic like Bob Dylan - were in short supply.
--
"If you don't underestimate me
I won't underestimate you" --Bob Dylan
e-mail: p...@peterstonebrown.com
http://www.peterstonebrown.com
beppe
To say the least, it's not *the usual*
It sounds warm and lucid and (because, maybe?) it's not the boringly worn
out apotheosis of the impeccable myth.
--
Ciao
Beppe
Kurt Schroeder
From: The Bob Dylan Discussion List
[mailto:HWY...@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter Stone Brown
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 4:56 PM
To: HWY...@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Subject: warner theater april 2 2004
...The lights slowly came up to reveal a a real drummer on-stage, in
fact, one of the greatest drummers in all of rock and roll for the last
three decades, the magnificent Richie Hayward. ...
==========================
I also attended the Warner show, and have one question: why was there a
change of drummers for three songs in the middle? Mr. Hayward was quite
good, but it seemed odd to bring on a different drummer for just a few
numbers.
I'd agree with PSB's overall assessment of the show -- some notable
highlights but not a consistent energy level throughout. The Warner
Theatre itself was the real highlight for me -- probably the most
beautiful theater I've ever been in, great acoustics, and only 2000
seats. The usher who was standing near our seats told my wife and me
that the theater is about 80 years old and was originally used for
vaudeville shows and movies. (Interesting to imagine Jolson on the same
stage as Bob.) Although the song selections at the other two DC shows
looked more interesting to me, I'm glad to have seen Dylan at the Warner
-- after 15 years of living in the DC area, I've finally seen something
at the Warner, and it's great that it was Bob.
--Kurt
Patricia Jungwirth
>>>>
For some reason where I was sitting allowed me to notice the position of Bob
's microphone, which seemed to be positioned lower that I remembered from
the shows last summer (but maybe not) forcing Dylan to bend down and kind of
turn looking at the audience every time he sang. Since the mic was
positioned for someone who would be sitting at the keys instead of standing
it was kind of strange.
<<<<
"...with a certain kind of blues music, you can sit down and play it...you
may have to lean forward a little." -- Bob Dylan, 1966
<<<<
Thanks Peter, great review.
Tricia
"I wish I was on some Australian mountain range
I got no reason to be there but
I imagine it would be some kinda change... "
-Bob Dylan, 'Outlaw Blues'
-January 1965
***tric...@aardvark.net.au
Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan in Melbourne, 1966:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/5581/
Robin
> positioned for someone who would be sitting at the keys instead of standing
> it was kind of strange.
I believe this was another "Bob thing". Can't say we weren't warned a
long time ago - e.g. I'm goin' to ride into Omaha on a horse, out to
the country club & the golf course, etc., etc.
> Thanks Peter, great review.
Yes, Peter great review. I was not quite sure what to expect from
Freddy, having read some of the stuff I have about him. At times, I
would say he was quite good. At other times he was just plain awful,
e.g. during "All Along The Watchtower", when he was throwing in random
chords (5ths?, 9ths?, 11ths?, who knows what). I think my wife summed
it up best. She is not very interested in the minutia we discuss in
places like this, but, without provocation, said, "You would think
Dylan could find a better guitar player than Freddy". Game, set &
match.
Robin
John Howells
I keep reading about all the awful stuff Freddy plays, but frankly
I just don't hear it (and I'm a guitar player and have listened to
countless guitar players, so I do know the instrument), and I
suspect what people are referring to as the awful stuff is simply
"outside" playing, which is common in jazz and very adventurous
blues (think Captain Beefheart). I like outside playing, but to
the novice I realize it sounds like mistakes. I think Freddy is
just attempting a mild sort of outside playing and it tends to
irritate the more melodically minded listeners among us. Dylan's
guitar playing was very "outside", but accidentally so, and yet
he often got a free pass. At least Freddy stays inside the groove
most of the time.
--
John Howells
how...@punkhart.com
http://www.punkhart.com
Peter Stone Brown
"John Howells" <how...@punkhart.com> wrote in message
news:OuXcc.80466$vn.2...@sea-read.news.verio.net...
>
> I keep reading about all the awful stuff Freddy plays, but frankly
> I just don't hear it (and I'm a guitar player and have listened to
> countless guitar players, so I do know the instrument), and I
> suspect what people are referring to as the awful stuff is simply
> "outside" playing, which is common in jazz and very adventurous
> blues (think Captain Beefheart). I like outside playing, but to
> the novice I realize it sounds like mistakes. I think Freddy is
> just attempting a mild sort of outside playing and it tends to
> irritate the more melodically minded listeners among us. Dylan's
> guitar playing was very "outside", but accidentally so, and yet
> he often got a free pass. At least Freddy stays inside the groove
> most of the time.
As you well know John, I'm also a guitar player and quite familiar with
every guitarist who has ever played with Dylan. I don't think Freddy is
bad, in fact think he is much more technically accomplished than most people
give him credit for. However, I do find him incredibly inconsistent.
However another guitarist friend of mine who lucked out and had front row
seats at the Warner pointed out something interesting about Freddy's solos,
which is that for some reason you can't hear all the notes he's playing, and
this friend is someone who watched was the guitarists are doing. In other
words, the possible reason that some of his leads seem to strange is that
some of the notes are not making it out into the venue. Is it his attack,
his volume, his settings? I don't know. He uses the same Vox amp that
Dylan guitarists have been using for the past several years.
And in response to some of your previous comments on this topic, I had high
hopes for Freddy when I saw him the first time in Atlantic City last May,
but he is unpredictable which isn't necessarily a bad thing. In terms of
intensity though (or to me more clear, a consistent intensity) he's a long
way from Robbie Robertson in terms of hitting the spot every time out. The
only recent guitarist who's done that for me is Sexton.
Kurt Schroeder
From: The Bob Dylan Discussion List
[mailto:HWY...@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter Stone Brown
To: HWY...@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Subject: Re: warner theater april 2 2004
... for some reason you can't hear all the notes he's playing, and this
friend is someone who watched was the guitarists are doing. In other
words, the possible reason that some of his leads seem to strange is
...In terms of intensity though (or to me more clear, a consistent
intensity) he's a long way from Robbie Robertson in terms of hitting the
spot every time out. The only recent guitarist who's done that for me
is Sexton.
====================
I wasn't in the front row at the Warner, but I noticed the same thing
about Freddy's playing while watching him through binoculars -- not all
of his played notes were coming through. It's interesting that you
mention Robbie Robertson, because I wondered during the Warner show if
Freddy was trying that thing Robbie used to do, where he hits the string
with both his pick and his thumb at the same time, so you get both a
sharp attack and a muted note at the same time. (At least, that's what
I do to replicate that sound of Robbie's in my own amateur way.) If
this is what Freddy was doing, he obviously wasn't as successful at it
as Robbie, but it was an interesting way of playing.
Overall, I was impressed by Freddy at this show, which was my first with
him in the band. I didn't think he had quite the same rapport with the
others that Charlie did in his last show in the band (which was also the
last Dylan show I saw), but I thought Freddy played some very
interesting stuff -- he avoids the slick stuff that you might hear from
a virtuoso or studio musician, and instead seems to be pulling out the
notes based on feeling, as awkward as that might seem at times.
Reminded me a bit of Marc Ribot, who plays with Tom Waits, among others.
--Kurt
Ken Wilson
> For some reason where I was sitting allowed me to notice the position of
Bob
> 's microphone, which seemed to be positioned lower that I remembered from
> the shows last summer (but maybe not) forcing Dylan to bend down and kind
of
> turn looking at the audience every time he sang. Since the mic was
> positioned for someone who would be sitting at the keys instead of
standing
> it was kind of strange.
The day Bob isn't kind of strange is the day I start worrying about him.
That's for the usual keenly observed/heard review.
Ken